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NAPA is moving to new Highway 57 location
HARTINGTON — The old Hartington VFW building is getting new life.
NAPA Auto Parts is relocating. Owner of five years, Eric Eickhoff, has been readying the building for quite some time.
Moving to the new highway location will hopefully offer more visibility, traffic, parking and an overall larger operating area, said Eickhoff.
“The number one thing people mention when they come into the current location is how much better the parking will be,” said Eickhoff.
Another benefit is freight delivery.
'The visibility and having enough room to pull a semi into the new location will be much better for those delivery drivers dropping off and picking up product,” Eickhoff said.
This move is something he'd been thinking about for quite some time.
“Jana and I had actually talked about purchasing that building prior to Jim Pick's purchase of it,” said Eickhoff. “After Jim passed and I heard the building was going to come up for sale, I started putting the pieces together to make an offer.”
With the hasty decision-making, Eickhoff said the challenges have been strongly tied to budgeting.
“There are always budget challenges when you aren't prepared for something like this. Then you have to take a look at what you physically have and how far you want to go with the remodel,” said Eickhoff. “I've visited a couple of other NAPA stores in the area and talked with their owners to get their thoughts, then discussed things here with Adam about how things should 'flow' during the typical workday.”
Ultimately, Eickhoff said, working with the NAPA retail team resulted in a layout that will be best suited to have the products people expect to be there when entering an auto parts store.
Eickhoff said the retail team will return the first week in August to set up the retail area, and the NAPA Omaha Distribution Center will help move warehouse products. He hoped to be ready to open the doors around mid-August but has not been planning a grand opening yet.
“With it being NAPA's 100th anniversary, NAPA in Hartington’s 65th anniversary, and my 5th year of owning this store coming in October, we will be planning some sort of customer appreciation event,” said Eickhoff.
The local auto parts store has had several locations since it first opened in August 1959 when Paul Modde opened an auto parts store on East Main Street. He later sold that store to Tim Leise. Leise then merged his business with John Lounsbery's Carquest Auto Parts. The duo then sold the operation to Eickhoff five years ago.
For Eickhoff, the whole point of the move is to help his business grow.
“I want to grow the business to better serve my customers, the community and to have something that one of my kids would want to take over when they get older,” said Eickhoff. “We do not own the building at the current location. While owning and maintaining a building presents new challenges, the benefits far outweigh those challenges.”
